


The Many Adventures of Clint Barton Rogers: The First Day of School

by Mhalachai



Series: Hands of Clay [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: First Day of School, Gen, Kid Fic, clint barton rogers is a chaos machine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 14:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11785020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mhalachai/pseuds/Mhalachai
Summary: It's the first day of first grade at his new school, and Clint is ready!Sort of.





	The Many Adventures of Clint Barton Rogers: The First Day of School

**Author's Note:**

> Making this a stand-alone installment as it's more plot-necessary than the other outtakes. Takes place in the middle of the upcoming chapter 30 of [Hands of Clay](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2143266). This probably won't make much sense unless you are familiar with the [Hands of Clay](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2143266) story, so you might want to start there.
> 
> Spot the cameos where you can.

* * *

It was the first day of school!

Clint held his father's hand really tight as they walked down the sidewalk, so Daddy didn't get lost. It was a busy sidewalk, with lots of other kids going to school. They all wore the same uniform Clint did, so they must be going to Clint's new school.

Just for a minute, Clint felt scared right in the middle of his tummy. He had a new school, and he didn't know any of the other kids, only Natasha. Clint hoped Natasha would still be his best friend with all the other kids around.

He looked over his shoulder. Behind him and Daddy, Natasha was walking with James, holding his hand.

"I want to go swimming after school!" Natasha was saying.

"No, Nat," said James. "It's Tuesday."

"Then I want to go to dance!"

"No, I told you, dance classes start next week."

Natasha rolled her eyes and dragged her feet. "Dadd _eeeeeeeeee!_ "

"If you do that, you're going to scuff your shoes," James said. Natasha stopped dragging her feet. "What do you think, Clint? What should we do after school?"

Clint didn't even have to think. "Go to the playground," he said. "And swing on the swings!"

His foot hit something and he nearly fell, but Daddy dragged him upwards. "Clint, be careful," Daddy said. "Watch where you're going."

Clint stared down at the ground where his feet were. He kicked every crack in the sidewalk until they reached the corner. Then he looked up again, and there was St. Ursula's!

The building looked a lot taller than it had the last time Clint was there, to meet Mr. Logan. There were so many people: kids like him, taller kids, and even grown-ups! Was everyone going into the school?

"Clint, come on." Daddy pulled on his hand, but Clint didn't want to move.

He wanted to go back to James' house and have Skye teach him to read and do adding and minusing and read him stories.

"Clint."

Clint put his finger in his mouth. His tummy felt really weird.

Daddy put his hands on Clint's shoulders and hauled him over to the edge of the building, out of the way of all the people. "First day jitters?" he asked.

Clint did not know what a jitter was, so he shook his head.

Natasha marched over to Clint, dropped her backpack on the ground, and leaned against the building. "I'm all ready to show Mr. Logan my homework," she declared. "And we're gonna have the best snacks! And recess! I love recess!"

Clint wiped his nose on his hand. "Daddy, where's my homework?"

Daddy ruffled Clint's hair. "It's in your backpack, beside your purple bandana."

Clint remembered his purple birthday bandana, and he felt a whole lot better. He liked his purple bandana, it made him feel like a cowboy! And cowboys never got scared, they were too busy being _cool,_ like James _._

"Let's get going," said James. He picked up Natasha's backpack and held it out to her. "Snap-to, double-time."

"Snap-to!" Natasha exclaimed, pulling on her backpack.

"What's double-time?" Clint asked.

"We move twice as quickly." James held out his robot hand to Clint and Clint, who _loved_ robots, took it. "Double-time, forward march!"

And off they went, hurrying at the double time. Clint clutched James' hand and giggled as they bounced along. Natasha giggled too, almost running to keep up. Daddy was behind them, going slow, so Clint called out, "Double-time!"

Daddy smiled, and Clint felt a whole lot better.

Walking into the school with Natasha and James and Daddy didn't make Clint feel scared at all. He remembered which way to go to their classroom, which hallway to turn right at, and which stairs to go up. The hallways were very loud, and Clint would have liked to take out his hearing aid because it was so loud, but he didn't, because it wasn't allowed.

Up ahead was their classroom. Clint let go of James' hand, and together he and Natasha ran for the door. Daddy called out, "No running inside!" but they were already through the door and it was too late.

The classroom was so full! Clint could barely see anyone, there were so many people. So many kids, and so many grown-ups! Clint didn't know what to do, but Natasha did. She grabbed his sleeve and hauled him over to the far wall. "We put our bags here," she explained, shrugging her backpack to the ground. "And sometimes we put our jackets here but I think we gotta wear them for first day."

"Okay," Clint said. He took off his backpack and tried to hang it on a hook.

"Not that one," Natasha scolded. She pointed. "Look, they have nametags. This is mine, Natasha Barnes." She hung her bag neatly on the hook under her name, then ran into the crowd of people in the middle of the room.

Clint looked. He didn't see his name. He began to get scared again. What if Mr. Logan had forgotten to put his name on a hook? Would he have to go home and not be in school if he didn't have a place to put his backpack?

Clint took a big breath. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to be in school, in class with Natasha and Mr. Logan, who was almost as cool as James!

So he looked, and he looked, and finally, at the end of the row of hooks, Clint spied a little piece of tape that said _Clint Rogers_.

"That's me," Clint said to himself. He crouched down to open his bag up. Inside was his homework paper, his purple birthday bandana, a pair of socks and shorts in case he had a spill, and the case for his glasses. Clint pulled out the bandana and shoved it into his pants' pocket, feeling rebellious and daring.

It was his bandana, and with it he was _cool_.

"How you doing, buddy?"

Clint looked up to see his father. "I found my hook," he said.

"Let's get you all squared away." Daddy helped Clint zip the backpack up, then Clint hung it off the hook under his name. "Are you all set for today?"

"Yeah," Clint said. He tried to run off to where he had last seen Natasha, but Daddy hauled him back. "I wanna go meet people!"

"In a minute." Daddy tried to flatten Clint's hair, then folded down the collar of Clint's shirt. "You're going to have a really great day, aren't you?"

Clint shrugged. "I guess."

Daddy smiled, all the way up to his eyes. "How about a picture for me to send to Mommy?"

Warm happiness whooshed over Clint. "Yeah!" he exclaimed. "Send it to Mommy!"

Daddy pulled Clint around so they were in the shot together, and Clint grinned as big a grin as he could grin. Daddy's phone clicked. "That's a good one," Daddy said, showing his phone to Clint. "I think I'll send that to Grandpa Abraham too, okay?"

"Okay." While Daddy was busy, Clint went off to look for Natasha. He didn't see her, but there were a whole bunch of other kids in the room. So Clint walked right up to one kid, and said, "Hi, I'm Clint!"

The boy looked at Clint. "Hi, I'm Eli!"

"Hi!" Clint moved on, looking for Natasha. Everywhere he went, he said hello to all the new kids. He met Taylan, Clara, Joseph, another Joseph, Elena, Matias, Amir, and Charlotte and Leah who were twins and Clint wasn't sure who was Charlotte and who was Leah.

Still unable to find Natasha, Clint retreated out of the crowd to stand by the storybook wall. He wasn't alone. There was a little girl there with her parents, holding a toy horse and looking at a book.

"Hi!" Clint said immediately.

The girl didn't look up.

Clint wondered if she didn't hear him. He didn't see a hearing aid in her ear. He took a deep breath, to say _hi_ louder, when the little girl's mom held up her hand.

"This is Saanvi," the mom said. "She doesn't like loud voices."

"Oh," Clint said, understanding perfectly. He didn't like loud voices either. So he waved his hand and whispered, "Hi, I'm Clint."

After a moment, still not looking at him, the little girl waved her toy horse in his direction.

Clint grinned, then waved again and went in search of Natasha. He finally found her by Mr. Logan's desk, talking to a boy he hadn't met yet.

Clint felt a little nervous, talking to this new boy when Natasha was there, but he remembered his purple bandana in his pocket and then he wasn't nervous any more. He marched up to Natasha and the boy and said, "Hi, I'm Clint!"

"I'm Ricky!" The boy seemed nice. He was already missing his front tooth. "You came to my class last year!"

"Oh yeah!" Clint remembered seeing the boy in Natasha's class last year when he ran away from his school. "Hi!"

"Ricky has a brother in the Army," Natasha said, sounding very impressed. "He is a _Private_."

"Cool."

"He's in Virginia now," Ricky said. "He sent me a t-shirt. I wanted to wear it today but my mom said no."

"My daddy was in the Army, but now he's not," said Natasha. "He let me wear his necklace." She pulled out the chain under her shirt, to show off James' dog tags.

Mr. Logan's voice rose above the noise in the room. "All right, everyone gather at the story circle. Kids, sit. Parents, stand if you want."

Together, Clint and Natasha and Ricky headed over to the story circle. Clint was very pleased when Natasha sat down right beside him. That was what best friends did, and he and Natasha were the very best of friends, _forever_.

The girl with the horse sat down on Clint's other side. She still didn't look at him.

Clint poked Natasha's arm. "This is Saanvi," he said in an inside voice. "She doesn't like loud noises."

Natasha leaned over Clint to peer at the girl. "Hi," Natasha said. "I'm Natasha."

Saanvi tucked her toy horse into her shirt so only the little head poked out. "I'm Saanvi," she said. "You have blue hair clips."

Natasha beamed. "I know! I like them the best."

At the front of the room, Mr. Logan stood by the blackboard. "Thanks, everyone, for coming to our first day of first grade. I'm Mr. Logan."

"Hi, Mr. Logan!" all the children chorused. Clint, who had been caught unaware, only managed to get in the last word. That was different from his old school.

What else would be different?

"Usually, we start the day with story time." Mr. Logan tapped the blackboard. "This is today's agenda, and we'll go over every day's plan before story time. Now." Mr. Logan fixed all the grown-ups with a steely glare. "Say goodbye to your kids and we'll see you at three."

Some of the kids jumped up, others had parents come over to them. Clint and Natasha waited until James and Daddy found them, then it was time to stand up for goodbyes.

"You have a good day, okay?" Daddy said to Clint. He looked sad, so Clint patted him on the shoulder.

"I will. Mr. Logan is my teacher!"

Beside them, James was attempting to fix Natasha's hair, which was coming loose from its clips. "Mr. Logan has your emergency inhaler, okay?"

Natasha made faces, each one funnier than the last. "I _know_ ," she grumbled. "Daddy, go away, we can't have fun with you here."

"Fine." James pressed a loud kiss against Natasha's forehead. She made another face. "We'll go to the park after school."

Natasha struck a superhero pose.

"See ya later, peanut." James put out his robot hand to Clint for a fist bump. "I'll keep your dad out of trouble today, don't you worry."

Clint didn't worry, because his dad was strong and smart and could do _anything_ and he never got into trouble.

"Go goodbye," Natasha said, shoving at her father. "We want to have fun but you're still _here._ "

Daddy and James left, and slowly all the adults were out of the room. Mr. Logan shut the door after the last of them, and sighed. "All right, show of hands." He walked back over to the story circle. "Who's ready for first grade?"

Clint stuck his hand high in the air. All around him, hands were raised.

"Good." Mr. Logan sat down. "Today's going to be a weird day, but tomorrow we'll get into our normal schedule. Hands again, who was in St. Ursula's last year?"

Beside Clint, Natasha put her hand up. A bunch of other children did too.

"Who was in a different school?"

Clint put his other hand up, the weight of his watch pulling at his arm. Other hands were up around the room.

"Well, thank you all for being part of my class this year," said Mr. Logan. "I think we're all going to have a great year. Now." He leaned back to pluck a long pointer from where it was resting against the wall. "Let's talk about what's going to happen today."

Clint sat and listened as hard as he could as Mr. Logan talked about story circle, then coloring, then snack-time. His legs were getting bored, so Clint got up on his knees as Mr. Logan explained that after snack, they were going to an assembly in the auditorium. Then Clint sat back on his heels and wiggled his bum as Mr. Logan talked about morning recess, and was everyone looking forward to recess?

As a whole, the class agreed that recess was pretty cool.

Clint was wondering if Mr. Logan would get mad at him if he stood up, when the classroom door opened and a lady peeked inside.

Clint bit his finger. Even though Mr. Logan was facing the door, he was looking at the circle and maybe he didn't see the lady.

Why was there a lady, anyway?

Quietly, the lady stepped into the room. Mr. Logan was still talking about recess. Clint bit his finger harder. Someone should say something about the lady to Mr. Logan.

Maybe she was the snack lady.

The lady, who had short brown hair like Aunt Kimberly, put her bag down by the door, then tiptoed sneakily towards Mr. Logan's desk. All around Clint, the other kids were looking at the lady, then at Mr. Logan, then back at the lady.

If she was the snack lady, why was she sneaking?

Clint could bear it no longer. Taking his finger out of his mouth, he put his arm up really high and waved his hand.

Mr. Logan stopped talking. "Yes, Clint?"

Clint pointed. "There's a lady."

The lady stopped mid-sneak.

Mr. Logan sighed a really big sigh. "Everyone," he said. "I'd like you to meet our classroom aide for this year." He glared at the lady. "This is Doreen Green. You can call her Miss Doreen."

"Hi, Miss Doreen!" the class chorused.

Miss Doreen bounced over to the circle and sat down in a spot between the Charlotte-and-Leah twins. "Hi everyone!" she said cheerily.

One of the Josephs put up his hand. "Why don't we call you Miss Green?" he asked.

Ricky put up his hand and spoke before Mr. Logan looked at him. "Because Ms. Green is the _headmistress_."

Clint looked at Miss Doreen. He wondered if she was related to Ms. Green. Miss Doreen was a white lady, and Ms. Green was a black lady, but maybe they were related. "Is Ms. Green your mom?" Clint asked.

A couple of the kids laughed. Clint sat back on his heels, feeling really bad in his belly and in his chest. Why were they laughing at him?

"Ms. Green is _black_ ," Ricky said. "She can't be Miss Doreen's _mom_."

"Maybe she can!" Natasha burst out. She was glaring around the room at the kids who laughed at Clint. "Maybe she's adopted! _I'm_ adopted!"

Miss Doreen leaned forward, her hands out and up. "All righty, let's have a tick-tack-toe time-out," she said. "Ms. Green isn't my mother, which is kinda too bad because Ms. Green is so cool. But this little girl—"

"Natasha," said Mr. Logan.

"--is right, adoption can make families of _anyone_."

Natasha sat back, looking very satisfied. But Clint still felt bad, that the kids would laugh at his question.

Beside Clint, Saanvi put up her hand. "Why are you late?" she asked. "You can't be late on the first day of school."

Miss Doreen's face scrunched up into a thinking face. "You're right. I shouldn't have been late on the first day of school. But, see, here's the story."

Mr. Logan sighed again.

"So my mom, my actual mom, she runs a squirrel rescue."

"What's that?" asked the other Joseph.

"That's where squirrels who get hurt stay while they're healing up."

"Like a hospital," put in Amir.

"Exactly like a hospital," Miss Doreen agreed. "With teeny-tiny hospital beds."

"Doreen," said Mr. Logan.

"Right! Sometimes, when a squirrel is hurt too badly to be rehabilitated back into the wild, they live at the rescue. And this morning, one of those squirrels, Tippy Toe, was missing!"

The room gasped. "Did he run away?" someone asked. "Did he hide?" asked another.

Clint had a more pressing concern. "Did you find him?" Clint demanded, scarcely breathing.

"Yes, we found him," said Miss Doreen, and Clint slumped back in relief. "He was hiding way up at the top of the basketball net, and we couldn't figure out how he got there! But now he's home safe with my mom, and that's why I'm late for the first day of class."

The entire class erupted into chatter. Natasha poked Clint in the arm. "That's a good story," Natasha said. "Did Grandpa Abraham ever save squirrels?"

"I don't think so," Clint replied. "He's a people doctor, not a squirrel doctor."

Mr. Logan clapped his hands, and waited until the class had settled down before he said, "Thanks to Miss Doreen for that thrilling nature documentary. Now, what was I talking about?"

"You were talking about today's schedule," said Miss Doreen.

"Thank you for keeping me on track," said Mr. Logan. "Why don't we have a Participaction break, then we can start coloring."

"Everybody up!" Miss Doreen bounced up to her feet. Mr. Logan wandered out of the circle to his desk. "Everyone, hands up high and wiggle those fingers!"

Everyone put their hands up to the sky, and wiggled their fingers around. Natasha giggled, and Clint felt a bit better.

"Now, everybody bounce in place!" Miss Doreen hopped up and down, and so did Clint and everyone else.

As Clint hopped, all of the bad feelings in his tummy bounced away. He was in class with Natasha, and Mr. Logan was his teacher, and he was going to have fun!

"All right, stop bouncing!" Everyone stopped. "Now, shake it all out!"

Everyone shook it all out. Clint shook it all out so hard his glasses almost fell off his face.

"Everyone, stand still and clap your hands," called Miss Doreen.

She began to clap in a rhythm, and everyone followed along. Clint liked clapping, it was fun!

As they clapped, Mr. Logan walked back to the circle holding a piece of paper. "All right!" shouted Miss Doreen. She stopped clapping. "Mr. Logan will tell you where you're sitting for this month!"

Mr. Logan pointed four desks grouped together by the storybook wall. "This quad is Charlotte and Leah and Joseph B. and Eli!"

Four kids stampeded to the desks. Clint clutched at Natasha's hand. "I want to sit with you!" he said breathlessly.

"I want to sit with you!" Natasha exclaimed, grabbing Clint back. She frowned, and her forehead got all wrinkly with determination. "I'm gonna sit with you even if Mr. Logan says different!"

Clint was shocked. "You can't disobey a teacher on the first day of school," he said.

The next quad was Elena and Matias and Clara and Simon, who Clint hadn't met yet. Natasha frowned harder. "I'm gonna do it!"

"I don't want you to get in trouble," Clint said, very worried now. He knew how determined his best friend was. "We can ask different if we have to."

Natasha's scowl was fierce. "Watch me."

Mr. Logan pointed to the desks closest to the blackboard. "This quad, is Ricky and Saanvi and Natasha—"

Clint stopped breathing, hoping with all his might.

"—and Clint."

Clint let his breath out in a whoosh, almost falling over when Natasha jumped on him. "Come on!" Natasha cheered, pulling Clint with her. "We're going to sit together!"

Clint was so happy, he couldn't speak.

They reached the desks at the same time as Ricky. "We didn't have _quads_ before," Ricky said, dropping into the desk farthest from the blackboard. "I like it!"

Clint sat in the desk diagonal from Ricky, and was happy when Natasha plopped down at his side. "This is my desk now," she said in satisfaction. "I will sit here, yes I will!"

Saanvi walked up to the quad. She pulled her toy horse out of her shirt and set it on the desk, and then she sat down.

Ricky eyed her. "How come you have a horse with you?"

"I like horses." Saanvi nudged her chair back a little. "Horses can sleep standing up."

Ricky guffawed. "That's funny."

"I wish I could sleep standing up," Natasha said, wiggling around in her chair.

Clint turned around so he could see the rest of the class. Mr. Logan was sending the last group of children to their desks. He put his list down on his desk, then turned to the classroom. Clint watched him, wondering if he was going to be a nice teacher all year like Skye, or if he would turn into a mean teacher like Mrs. Anders.

Clint scowled. He didn't like thinking about Mrs. Anders.

 Mr. Logan clapped his hands. "All right, dunkaroos!" he announced. "We're going to get you settled into your new desks by making a nameplate. That's a piece of paper with your name on it. But first, I want you to go get your homework and bring it back to your desks so we can check it out."

The other kids, including Natasha and Ricky, jumped to their feet and swarmed over to the coat hooks, making lots of noise. Clint stayed where he was, wincing at the noise. Maybe his dad had turned his hearing aid up too high, because everyone was _too loud_.

Saanvi, who had also stayed sitting, had picked up her horse to gallop over her desk. "Why aren't you getting your homework?" Clint asked her.

Saanvi made her horse walk on its two back feet. "I put it in my pocket," she explained. "If I don't put it in my pocket, I forget it."

"Oh." The others were starting to return to their desk, and Clint suddenly realized that he was going to be late. He jumped up, nearly tripped over his chair, and ran as fast as he could over to the coat hooks. He pulled down his backpack, unzipped the zipper, grabbed his homework page, and ran back to his desk, falling into his chair just as Mr. Logan lifted his hands for quiet.

"Thank you for that rambunctious demonstration," Mr. Logan said. Clint looked up from smoothing out the wrinkles in his homework sheet. Mr. Logan's voice was like Uncle Tony's voice sometimes got. Clint liked that. "Miss Doreen will be handing around construction paper and crayons to every table. Your first task is to write your name on the paper, and draw something fun that you like to do beside your name. Got it?"

"Yes, Mr. Logan!"

Miss Doreen started to circle the room, handing out things. While he waited, Clint tried to decide what he would draw. He really liked to go swimming. Maybe he could draw him and Natasha at the swimming pool at Uncle Tony's house. But he also really liked to shoot arrows with his bow.

Maybe he could draw both.

Across the desks, Ricky had his chin in his hands, waiting. "I wish it was recess," he said. "I like recess best."

"Coloring is fun," Natasha retorted, folding her legs up under her on the chair. "You can draw _whatever you like_."

"Mr. Logan said we have to draw the thing we like to do," Saanvi put in. "Not draw whatever we like."

Natasha frowned at the other girl. "I'm going to draw something that I like to do, and I like to draw things I like to do."

Clint bit his knuckle. Natasha didn't sound like she was happy, but Clint didn't know what to do. When they were at home, Skye or James would always say something to make Natasha happy again.

Before anything else could happen, Miss Doreen appeared at their desks. "All right, here we go." She plunked down a box of crayons, and then gave everyone a sheet of construction paper. "Remember what Mr. Logan said. Write your name, then draw your favourite thing to do."

Natasha put up her hand. "Can it be _anything_ that I like to do?" she demanded.

"Sure." Miss Doreen pushed the box of crayons to the middle of the four desks. "Just as long as your name is on it."

Natasha glared at Saanvi, triumphant, but Saanvi wasn't paying any attention. With a harrumph, Natasha grabbed a red crayon, then tackled her paper.

Clint looked at his blank construction paper. He would start with his name, and then he would draw a picture of himself shooting arrows from a swimming pool. That was what he would do.

Satisfied with this plan, Clint leaned over to look for a purple crayon in the box.

A few minutes later, just as Clint had carefully drawn the last letter in his name, Mr. Logan knelt down beside their desks. "How's everyone doing?" Mr. Logan asked.

"Okay," Clint said. He was trying to decide what color he wanted the water of the pool to be in his drawing.

"Me too," added Ricky. He held up his paper. "I'm drawing water slides. I like water slides."

"Mr. Logan, are you going to look at our homework now?" Natasha asked.

"Yes. And I'm going to start in alphabetical order." Mr. Logan looked at Clint. "Ready to go?"

Clint abandoned his crayons. "Uh huh." He pushed his homework sheet, now only slightly rumpled, over to Mr. Logan. "I read a book called 'I Want My Hat Back'. See, I wrote that down." Clint pointed at the page, where he had carefully written the book's title. "And in the book, there's a bear and he wants his hat back."

"I see," said Mr. Logan. "And what was your favourite part of the story?"

Clint pointed at the bottom of the page, where he had drawn a bear in a hat. "I liked it when he remembered where he saw his hat."

"Good." Mr. Logan made a note in his little book. "Very well done."

Clint beamed. He had done it right! Now Mr. Logan knew that Clint was smart!

"Put the sheet in your desk and I'll collect it for your homework portfolios later on," said Mr. Logan, and Clint hurried to do so. "All right, who's next?"

Natasha put up her hand. "Me. My name starts with an 'N' and Ricky's name starts with an 'R' and 'N' comes before 'R'."

"My name is last," added Saanvi. "R-S-T-U-V ."

"You are all right." Mr. Logan moved over to Natasha's desk, and Clint returned to his drawing. His bad ear was pointed toward Natasha, so he only heard a little of what she was telling Mr. Logan. He was more interested in drawing his picture.

By the time Mr. Logan moved on to Ricky, Clint had finished his swimming pool, and began to draw himself. He drew himself with a purple bathing suit before drawing his bow, being very careful to draw the black-and-purple lines. He loved his bow.

Natasha poked his arm with a crayon. "What are you drawing?" she asked.

Clint pointed. "That's me," he explained. "I'm in Uncle Tony's swimming pool, and I have my bow."

"Oh." Natasha chewed on the end of her crayon. "I'm drawing my dance class, but if my dance class was on the moon."

Clint looked at Natasha's paper. On it was a person with butterfly wings. "That's fun!"

"There are no dance classes on the moon," Saanvi said from across the desks.

"Not yet," Natasha said, and glared. Saanvi never looked up. "Maybe I'll go to the moon and be the first person to dance on the moon _ever_."

Saanvi reached for a brown crayon. "I like the moon."

Mr. Logan, finished with Ricky, came around to Saanvi's desk. "All right, where's your homework?" he asked.

Saanvi put her crayons down, then reached into her jacket pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper. "I read the Kingfisher Illustrated Horse and Pony Encyclopedia," Saanvi said. "It has two hundred and twenty-four pages."

Mr. Logan unfolded the paper. "Did you read all of those pages?"

"No. I read four pages. I looked at the pictures on the other pages."

 Mr. Logan laid down the piece of paper. On it was some handwriting that looked like Clint's dad's writing. Clint boggled. Could Saanvi write so good already?

"And what was your favourite part?" asked Mr. Logan.

Saanvi pointed at the paper. "It says it there."

"Can you tell me?"

Saanvi rubbed her nose. "It says, I like to know how horses eat. A horse is an…" She took a deep breath. "An herb-ah-vore. That means it only eats plants. Horses don't eat meat."

Mr. Logan smiled. "Very good, Saanvi, thank you. You all did really good work on this homework assignment. Now, get back to your desk cards, okay?" He stood up, and walked to the next quad.

"How come you can write so good?" Clint asked as soon as Mr. Logan was gone.

Saanvi put her homework sheet in her desk. "I didn't write that, my mom did. She's a lawyer."

"My mom didn't write mine," Ricky said. "I asked her to and she said no. She said I gotta practice. I don't like writing. I like typing on the ipad."

"Writing is okay," Natasha said. "I like to write my name. I like my name."

Clint fiddled with his crayon. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about writing or reading any more. He didn't think he wanted Ricky or Saanvi to know that he had only learned how to read that summer. Natasha had learned how to read in kindergarten, like a big kid.

Clint went back to coloring, feeling a little flutter in his tummy. Maybe he was hungry.

He had just finished coloring in his swimming pool when Mr. Logan returned to the front of the classroom. "All right, if you're not finished you can work on your name card later this afternoon during free play," he said. "I want everyone to bring their name card up to Miss Doreen, and then after that you line up for snacks, okay?"

"Yes, Mr. Logan!"

Clint bounced up and to his feet, only a few inches behind Natasha as they got into line. Natasha was dancing in place, but Clint just clung to his card and waited. He had decided that he was hungry, yes indeed. He wondered what they would have for snacks, and if it would be any good. Skye always made the best snacks at James' house that summer. She always asked Clint what he wanted, and she always made sure that he had enough.

When he started thinking about Skye, all of Clint's happiness fell down through his body, all the way down to the ground. He stared at his drawing, feeling sadness like a big rock in his throat.

He missed Skye.

"Snack time!" sang Natasha. "Snack-a-nack-a-nack time!" She looked over her shoulder at Clint. "You gotta sing the song with me."

Clint sniffed. "I don't feel like singing," he confessed. It was going to be forever until Daddy and James came to get him from school. He felt even sadder. "I wish Skye was here."

"Oh." Natasha turned all the way around to look at Clint. "Skye can't be here, she has to be in school today, too!"

Clint sniffled again. "What school is she going to do?" he asked.

"College," Natasha said. "She said she has one more year and then she is done school forever."

Clint thought about how old Skye was. "That's a long time. Do we have to do school until we're _old?"_

"I hope not," Natasha said. She turned around again to face the front of the line. "When I grow up I'm not going to do any more school, I'm going to do dance all day and eat cheese for lunch, every day!"

Clint was cheered up by the idea that one day, he wouldn't have to go to school all the time. It would be like summer, all year! "When I grow up, I'm going to go to the Olympics and shoot my bow and be excellent and get gold medals," he said. "And I'm going to eat ice cream for lunch, every day!"

They had made it to Miss Doreen by now. She took their papers and looked at them. "Awesome stuff," she said. "Now go get a snack plate and take them back to your desk to eat."

Mr. Logan was handing out the snacks. Clint took a little plate with food on top and carried it back to his desk. When he sat down, he looked at the snack – there was a slice of orange, a slice of apple, three grapes, and four cheese cubes.

"Mmm," Clint said. "Can we eat?"

"Yes." Natasha had already started on her cheese cubes. "I like snacktime but I like lunchtime better."

Clint made a face at his plate. He didn't like school lunch. The food always tasted weird. He liked lunch at James' house better.

All around them, people were talking. Clint didn't like the noise all that much, but he wasn't allowed to take out his hearing aid unless he was going swimming or in the sprinkler, so he just put his hand over his hearing aid. With his free hand, he picked up his orange slice. He liked oranges.

Natasha was quick at eating her snack. When she was done, she leaned over to Clint's desk and poked at his plate. "Are you going to eat all your cheese?" she asked, her eyes really wide.

"Yes."

"Oh." Natasha sat back. "Maybe there will be cheese sandwiches at lunch."

"Maybe." Clint put his apple slice and two cheese cubes into his mouth and bit down.

Across the desks, Saanvi pushed her plate away. She had only eaten the apple slice. "You can have my cheese," she said.

Natasha beamed at Saanvi. "Thanks!" she said, diving for the plate.

Ricky, who had been watching, shoved his orange slice into his mouth and grinned an orange-peel smile. Clint laughed.

Miss Doreen stopped by their desks. "How's it going?" she asked. Ricky grinned up at her with his orange-peel mouth, and she smiled. "That's what I thought." She crouched down beside the desks. "Saanvi, aren't you hungry?"

Saanvi had gone back to playing with her toy horse. "Horses like apples."

"Hmm." Miss Doreen looked like she was thinking. "Do you like apples?"

Saanvi nodded.

"What about oranges and grapes?"

Saanvi shook her head.

"And what about cheese?"

Saanvi galloped her horse over to the edge of the desk. "Horses can't eat cheese."

"So you don't eat cheese?" Miss Doreen asked. Saanvi shook her head again. "Okay. How about I talk to your parents to make sure we can get you a good snack that you like to eat?"

Saanvi slowly walked her horse over to Miss Doreen, then bowed it over so the little horse mouth touched Miss Doreen's hand.

"Thank you," said Miss Doreen solemnly. She stood up. "When you're all done, bring your plates over to the snack cart."

Clint looked around. Others in the room were already carrying their plates over to the cart. Shoving his last grape into his mouth, Clint stood up, carrying his plate. "Are you ready?" he asked Natasha, who nodded. Her mouth was still full as she picked up her plate and followed Clint.

At the cart, Mr. Logan was directing the kids. "All food scraps go into this bucket," he said, pointing. "And plates go here."

Clint peered into the bucket as he tilted his plate to dump his orange peel inside. "Where does that bucket go?" he asked as he put his plate into the bin.

"To the community compost," said Mr. Logan. "We're going to start a unit in composting and gardening in science class next month."

"Oh."

"Now go line up by the door for a bathroom trip," Mr. Logan told them. "No, Leah, plates don't go in the food scrap bucket."

Clint and Natasha walked over to stand by the wall with the other kids. Natasha chewed and chewed and finally swallowed. "Whew!" she said. "That was a lot of cheese."

"I liked the orange the best," said Clint. He tapped his fingers together. They felt sticky. "The apple was good too. I like this school."

"You'll like recess too," Natasha promised him. "There's a big playground. And we get to play for _half an hour_."

"That's a long time," Clint said. He looked at his watch. The second-hand tick-tick-ticked its way in a circle. "Are there swings?"

"Yes," Natasha said as Mr. Logan herded everyone into a single-file line. "And monkey bars. And places you get to climb real high."

"That sounds like the best," Clint said. "Can we go there now?"

"No, we have to go to assembly first," Natasha reminded him.

Clint frowned. He hated assemblies in his old school. Everyone had to go sit on the ground in the smelly gym and his smelly teachers always put Clint at the back so he couldn't hear anything and he always got in trouble. "What's gonna happen?" he asked Natasha as the line began to move.

"I dunno." Natasha jumped a few steps, then went back to walking. "But after we get to go out to recess and that's good."

Then the line was out the door and Natasha had to face front, so Clint had a few minutes to think. If he was good in the assembly, and didn't get in trouble, then maybe he could swing on a swing, and climb up high. And he could climb on the monkey bars and have so much fun!

The line stopped outside the bathrooms. "All right," called Mr. Logan. "Boys over there." He pointed to the door. "Girls over there." He pointed across the hall. "Remember to wash your hands and come out here when you're done."

"Bye," Natasha said, and bounced over to the girls' room. Clint went into the boys room with the other boys. Inside the bathroom, there were five stalls, but there were no urinals. Clint wondered why, but because he was only third in line, he went into one of the stalls and locked the door behind him.

The toilets in this bathroom were low, just little kid size! Clint was glad about that, because other toilets were all for grown ups and it was hard for him to use them, because he was still short. He did his business, then was very careful to make sure that his trousers zipper was pulled all the way up, and his buttons were done up.

Once a long time ago, when they didn't know Clint was listening to them, Uncle Tony had told Uncle Bruce about a time when Uncle Tony had been drunk (Clint did not know what 'drunk' was but apparently it made Uncle Bruce frown a big frown at Uncle Tony) he had come out of the bathroom with his fly down and he had tripped and his pants fell all the way down around his feet.

Clint did not want his pants to fall down on his first day of school.

Satisfied that he was ready, Clint flushed the toilet, then unlocked the stall door and walked out. At the sink, Ricky was making loud honking noises while Amir laughed.

"Hi," Clint said, reaching to put soap on his hands.

Ricky honked again, then said, "Hi."

"How come you have glasses?" Amir asked as he turned off his tap. "My sister has glasses but she's _old_. She's _twelve_."

Clint pushed his tap on. "I see real good far away," he told Amir. "But I don't see good up close. So I got glasses so I can read."

One of the Josephs came up to the sinks. "I've been reading since I was three," he said importantly.

Clint looked the boy up and down. He was bigger than the other Joseph, taller than any of the other kids in Mr. Logan's class except for Clara. "Reading is good," Clint said, even though he felt a little shaky about it. He didn't want anyone to know he had only been able to read since that summer. He didn't want anyone in his new class to think he was dumb.

"Kids!" Mr. Logan yelled from outside the bathroom. "If you're done, wash your hands and get out here!"

Clint jumped. In a hurry, he washed the soap off his hands, turned off the tap, then wiped his hands on his pants as he ran after Ricky and Amir. Out in the hall, the girls were lining up neatly while Miss Doreen checked over their uniforms. Clint waved at Natasha, who waved back. He also waved at Saanvi, who was in the middle of tucking her horse into her shirt and didn't see him.

"Line up," said Mr. Logan. Clint pressed back up against the wall in between Simon and Taylan. "Let's look at you here." He walked down the line of the boys, telling one of the Josephs to tie his shoe, and Matias to fix his collar. When Mr. Logan got to Clint, he frowned. "What's that there?"

Clint looked down. Just peeking out of his pocket was the tip of his very special purple birthday bandana.

Frantically, Clint shoved it back into his pocket. Was he in trouble now?

Mr. Logan knelt down in front of Clint. "Can I see it?" he asked. He didn't sound like Clint was in trouble, but how could Clint know? He'd only met Mr. Logan once before that day. It had taken Clint a whole week to know from his teachers at his old school when he was in trouble.

Feeling just awful, Clint pulled his bandana out of his pocket and held it out to Mr. Logan.

"Is there anything in here?" Mr. Logan asked, taking the purple fabric and smoothing it out. Clint shook his head. "Why do you have it?"

"It's my birthday present from Natasha," Clint whispered.

Mr. Logan looked up at Clint. "It's a very nice present," he said, folding the cloth back up into a tiny square with the pattern showing on top. "How about you put it back in your pocket so it doesn't get lost?"

Clint blinked. Maybe he wasn't in trouble after all! Feeling a tiny bit better, he pushed his bandana square deep into his pocket, where it would be safe.

"All right." Mr. Logan stood up. "Eli, pull your socks up. Joseph, turn down your jacket cuffs. This is a school, not a rodeo, boys." He looked over at Miss Doreen. "We good?"

Miss Doreen nodded. "All set."

"Kids, back together and hold hands for us to go into the assembly, please," said Mr. Logan. There was a rush as the girls and boys crowded together again, Clint heading straight for Natasha. Her hand was out for his, and as soon as he was holding Natasha's hand, he felt a happiness balloon blow up in his chest. Natasha was his best friend in the whole world.

Looking around, Clint could see that everyone was holding someone's hand…. Everyone except for Saanvi. Clint frowned. Why wasn't Saanvi holding anyone's hand?

Careful to keep hold of Natasha, Clint edged towards Saanvi. "You gotta hold a hand."

Saanvi looked at her shoes.

Clint looked around again. Everyone was holding a hand, except Saanvi. Then Clint understood. There was no one for Saanvi to hold hands with.

He held out his free hand. "You can hold my hand."

"Clint," Natasha hissed as Saanvi raised her eyes to look at Clint's hand. "You can _only hold one hand_."

"That's not what Mr. Logan said," Clint argued. There was a little hot ball in his chest, pushing at the happiness balloon. "Mr. Logan said, hold hands."

Slowly, Saanvi pulled her horse out of her shirt, and put one tiny plastic leg into Clint's hand. "Mr. Logan said hold hands," she agreed in a quiet voice.

Natasha made a little angry noise. "If you're going to hold two hands," she said, "I'm going to hold two hands!" She jerked back, pulling Clint and Saanvi along, as she dove for Madison's hand. The other girl looked at her. "We're all going to hold hands!"

"Oh!" said Madison, who was even smaller than Natasha. She turned to Clara at her side. "Let's all hold hands!"

Clara reached out for Elena, who was already holding Simon's hand, who then reached for Joseph's hand. In a minute, everyone was holding two hands, all except for Saanvi at one end of the line, and Charlotte at the other.

Mr. Logan was staring at them. "What are you doing?"

Clint wobbled for a moment, then he said, "You said hold hands! We are!"

Mr. Logan looked at him.

Clint looked back, wondering if he was in trouble.

Then Mr. Logan smiled, a big huge smile that made Clint feel so much better. "You're right, that is what I said." He looked over at Miss Doreen. "How about we take this year's best class of first graders into the assembly?"

"Yes, sir!" Miss Doreen said with a salute. She looked at Saanvi. "Can I walk with you to the assembly?"

Saanvi looked at Miss Doreen, and nodded. "You have green nail polish," Saanvi said.

"Yup! I like it."

"Lead us on," said Mr. Logan from where he was holding Charlotte's hand. "All right, everyone, walk carefully please."

They had to go slow, because Matias had his arms crossed over his chest and Simon was walking backwards, while Leah walked sideways, but no one tripped and no one fell as they moved down the hall. After a few steps, Clint started to giggle.

"Why are you laughing?" Natasha demanded.

"This is fun!" he said back.

Natasha squeezed his hand very tight, then she started to giggle too. The giggles moved through the line as they walked up to a pair of big double doors, propped open, that led into a large gym. There were already other children in the gym, sitting on the floor in a half-circle.

"Logan!" called a grown-up lady who was sitting on the ground. "We thought you weren't coming!"

"Wouldn't do to be late on day one," said the other grown-up man sitting on the far side of the circle.

"I was just getting a very important lesson on the need for clarity, Ororo, Hank," said Mr. Logan. "Kids, time to sit down."

The class moved over to the others, still linked. "Let's sit down on three," called Miss Doreen. "One, two… three!"

Everyone went down, letting go of hands as they did so. Clint ended up on his side on the ground, having dropped too fast, with Natasha half-sitting on him. Saanvi had pulled her horse away on three, so he didn't accidentally knock her over.

"Sit on the floor, not each other," yelled Mr. Logan.

Natasha slid to the ground with a bump, and then Clint could sit up straight. "That was fun," he said.

Natasha poked him in the knee. "You're still my best friend, right?" she demanded.

"Huh?" Clint took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Of course I am!"

"Good." Natasha wiggled around on the ground, sitting cross-legged and tucking her skirt down. "If you're my best friend you always gotta hold my hand, always _always_."

Clint scratched his nose. "Okay."

A tap-tap-tap of shoes over the gym floor caught Clint's attention, and he turned around. It was Ms. Green!

Clint waved his hand, and he was happy when Ms. Green looked at him with a smile. He hunched down and giggled a little. She remembered him!

"Hello, everyone," said Ms. Green as she sat right down on the ground with everyone.

"Hello!" chorused a bunch of kids. Clint waved again.

"For those of you whom I have not yet met, I am Ms. Green, and I am the head principal of St. Ursula's," she said. "Welcome to the school year. I know it's going to be a very busy year for all of you, because in the first grade, there is so much to learn."

Clint bounced his hands up and down on the ground. He wondered if he could get up on his knees like he had in class that morning.

"This year," Ms. Green went on, "We have three first grade classes. The teachers are Mr. Logan, Ms. Munroe, and Mr. McCoy." Each of them lifted their hands when Ms. Green called their name. "Most of the time, you will be in your own classrooms, but for some subjects, and on some field trips, you will go together as a group, St. Ursula's first years."

A small gasp rose up from the other side of the gym. "Like Harry Potter!" someone squealed.

Clint straightened up. He loved Harry Potter! Were they going to be like Harry Potter?

Ms. Green nodded her head. "Harry Potter was a little bit older than you all when he started school at Hogwarts," she said. "And some things here are like Hogwarts. But some things are different. For example," and she smiled. "There is no dungeon in St. Ursula's. And no house elves. That means we all need to pitch in and help out with the work."

"So for starters," said the teacher who was Mr. McCoy. "We need to clean up after ourselves, to be considerate of others. We need to pick up our art supplies when we are done, and put books back on shelves when we are done reading."

"If you see someone who needs help," said Ms. Munroe, "You can ask them if you can help out. It's important for us to help others. And it's also important to learn how to accept help ourselves."

Clint sighed. Ms. Munroe was really pretty, and she had a pretty voice. She wasn't as pretty as Skye, but she was close.

"And part of all that," said Mr. Logan, "Is that everyone can learn how to be a better friend. Being a friend takes a lot of work, and it's important for us to try hard to be compassionate and caring."

"Now," said Ms. Green, sitting forward. "I would like you to put your hands up if you agree with what I am about to say."

Clint clenched his hands into fists. He was ready!

"Who here likes fun?"

Clint shoved his right hand high up into the air, along with everyone else he could see.

"Who here likes to learn?"

Clint pulled his right hand down and stuck his left hand up.

"And who here is ready to have a great year?"

Clint left his hand up, waving his fingers.

"Now, last question," said Ms. Green. Clint let his hand drop. "And it's the most important question of the day."

Clint held his breath. What was it going to be?

Ms. Green looked around the room. "Who here," she said slowly, "Is ready for recess?"

A loud cheer swept through the room. Clint flung both his hands over his head, cheering also. He loved recess!

Out of the corner of his eye, Clint noticed that Saanvi put her hands over her ears. He could only wonder at that for a moment, then Ms. Green said loudly, "All right, everyone, let's stand up and head outside for recess!"

All around them, kids jumped up, but Clint stayed sitting down as he looked at Saanvi. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Saanvi kept her hands over her ears.

Miss Doreen appeared and crouched down beside Saanvi. "Clint, you can go out with the others," said Miss Doreen. "I'll come out with Saanvi in a minute."

Clint put his finger in his mouth. "Okay."

From his other side, Natasha grabbed his jacket sleeve. "Come _on_ ," she demanded, pulling him up. "It's recess. We can go play _dinosaurs!_ "

Clint got up. "Okay," he said to Natasha. He looked at Saanvi once more, then followed the other children out into the playground.

It was a really nice playground! Like Natasha had said, there were swings, and monkey bars, and teeter-totters, and all kinds of stuff! Clint ran after Natasha as she climbed up on the playground equipment. His legs were tired from sitting still all morning, and it was good to run and jump!

There were a lot of kids on the playground, more than just the other first graders. Clint saw a few really little kids all huddled around someone he knew, Mrs. Singh who was Natasha's teacher last year. "Who's that?" Clint asked, pointing at the little kids.

Natasha paused half-way up a ladder to look. "Oh, those are the kindergarten babies," Natasha said scathingly. "In the mornings, they have recess with us. In the afternoons, first graders have recess with the second and third graders. The _big kids!"_ she said importantly.

"Oh." Clint stared some more. The little kids were really little. Had he been that little, just a year ago?

"Come on!" Natasha yelled. "Come chase me, I'm a dinosaur!"

Obligingly, Clint climbed up the playground equipment after Natasha, and soon they were having a great deal of dinosaur fun.

Recess at his new school was _awesome_ , Clint decided. There was lots of stuff to do, and lots of room to run around, and recess was so _long!_ Clint was going to go to school here forever, he decided as Natasha chased him around the swingset.

After a while, Clint got a little tired. "I wanna stop!" he called to Natasha.

Natasha, who had been about to attack him Velociraptor style, stopped mid-jump. "Okay," she said. "What do you want to do now?"

Clint looked around. "Go over there," he declared, pointing to where Saanvi was sitting on a bench with Miss Doreen. "And say hi."

Natasha frowned. "Why?"

"Because Saanvi is in our class," Clint explained.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "All right," she said, but not like she was happy.

Clint walked over to the bench. "Hi Saanvi!" he said, and waved. "I like recess! Do you like recess?"

Saanvi waved her horse at him. "Horses should go outside for walking every day," she said.

Clint scratched his nose. "My Uncle Thor grows horses. They go out walking all the time."

"Your Uncle Thor is tall," said Natasha, who had come up beside Clint. "He has a beard."

"I'm not tall enough to ride a horse," said Saanvi. She made her horse walk over her knees. "But I will be one day."

"I never gone on a horse yet either," Clint said. "Maybe I'll do it one day."

"Horses are the best." Saanvi hugged her horse. "Horses make friends." She looked over in Natasha's direction. "I think we are friends."

Natasha's mouth opened in a wide O. "Are we?" she squeaked.

"Clint held my horse's hoof in line," Saanvi said. She looked down at her horse. "And you sit in desks with me and ate my grapes. So that means we are friends."

Clint's whole body was happy. He had another friend! Natasha was his best friend, but now he had another friend, and that friend was Saanvi! "Yeah!" Clint cheered, but quiet because he remembered that Saanvi didn't like loud voices. "We're friends!"

"We're friends?" Natasha said. She looked from Saanvi, to Clint, then to Miss Doreen, who was being really quiet and still, just like a squirrel. Then Natasha looked at Saanvi again. "Yeah, we are friends!"

The school bell rang. "We have to go back inside now," said Miss Doreen. She stood up. "Saanvi, do you want to walk back inside with me? You can tell me more about horses."

Saanvi slid off the bench, and reached for Miss Doreen's hand. "Horses can be thirty years old," she said to Miss Doreen. "I am six years old."

"Nice," said Miss Doreen. "I'm twenty-three." She and Saanvi started walking toward the school doors.

"If you were a horse, you would be _old_."

"You've got me there."

As they walked away, Clint looked at Natasha. She still looked surprised. "I never had a friend at school before," Clint said. "I only ever had you, but you're my friend all the time, not just at school."

"I never had a school friend either," Natasha breathed. "Hey! Saanvi gave me her cheese! Of course we're friends!"

"But you're my best friend," Clint said in a hurry, in case Natasha might forget. "You're my _best friend_ all the time."

"Yeah," Natasha agreed. "All the time!"

"Hey!" came a shout across the playground. It was Mr. Logan. "Inside, all you stragglers!"

Clint and Natasha ran towards the school. "What's a straggler?" Clint asked as they passed Mr. Logan.

"That's someone who lags behind," Mr. Logan said. "Go on, you two go catch up with the rest."

"Okay." Clint and Natasha walked down the hall after some of their classmates. Eli and Taylan were hopping along on one foot each, while the other Joseph walked backwards, bumping into things. Clint didn't want to get into trouble, so he did not hop or walk backwards.

But he wanted to.

Back in the classroom, Miss Doreen was telling everyone to sit in the story time circle, so Clint sat down with Natasha on one of his sides and Saanvi on the other of his sides. Mr. Logan came in at last, herding Madison and Charlotte and Leah in front of him, and closed the door. "Now," said Mr. Logan. "Whew. What a morning."

Clara put her hand up. "Mr. Logan," she said, "What are we going to do now?"

Mr. Logan walked over to sit down on the carpet. "Now," he said, "It's time for…" He took a deep breath and made a funny face. "Science!" he boomed in a deep voice

Clint giggled. Mr. Logan was funny!

"Can you all try saying it like that?" asked Mr. Logan. " _Science!_ "

Everyone said the word, then Mr. Logan had them all talk real low, then real high, then in a voice like a duck, then a voice like a bird.

As he made pretend voices along with the others, Clint looked over at Natasha, who was having such a great time she was bobbing back and forth. Clint let out a happy breath. If this was what first grade was going to be like, Clint decided, he was going to like school a whole lot.

* * *

"And remember," said Mr. Logan, hours later as everyone was getting ready for afternoon recess. "You're going to be out there with the second and third graders, so keep your eyes and ears open. The playground is going to be busy."

Taylan put his hand up. "Why come we gotta go outside with the big kids?" he demanded.

"Because that's how the schedules work," replied Mr. Logan. "The kindergarteners go home an hour earlier than everyone else in primary school, so they have recess earlier. And it's 'how come', not 'why come'."

"Why?" Taylan asked again.

"There is no reason, just that that's the way things go," Mr. Logan said. He helped Miss Doreen move the kids into a single-file line. "A lot of the time in language, stuff just happens, and you have to remember how things go."

Clara put up her hand. "My granny speaks Danish and she says it is easy and English is _hard_."

"Your granny has a good point." Mr. Logan touched Clint's arm. "Back in line, please."

Clint groaned, but he shuffled back into line. Lunch had been _three hours ago_ and he was _so hungry_. And his head hurt from all the reading that afternoon, too. Clint didn't really want to go out for recess. He wanted to go home.

Natasha poked Clint in the belly. "Do you want to play dinosaurs?" she asked hopefully.

Clint shrugged. "Maybe someone else will want to play dinosaurs," he said.

Natasha stared at him, her mouth open. "No dinosaurs?"

Before Clint could answer, the line started moving. Clint trudged along, feeling something strange in his tummy. Maybe he was hungry. If he went home, or to James' house, maybe he could have a snack there and feel better right away.

And if he went home, he'd see his daddy, and hug Floppy, and spend time with Natasha all on his own with no teachers or other kids around.

 Yes, Clint decided. That was what he wanted.

He wanted to go home.

He looked around as soon as they walked out into the playground. There was a big tall fence with a huge locked door on one side of the playground, where Natasha had said all the parents came to get kids at the end of the day. There were three doors that went back into the school, along another wall. And then there was a blank wall of the gym along the other side of the playground. At one end of that wall, there was a gap where the gym didn't quite touch the school, and there was a chain-link gate there.

Clint wondered if anyone would see him climb over the big fence and go home.

As the others ran off to the playground, Natasha marched along angrily at his side. "Why'd you not want to play dinosaurs with me?" she demanded.

Clint pushed at his hair until it was standing up out of his eyes. "I don't wanna," he said. "I wanna go home."

"We can't go home yet," Natasha scolded. "There's recess, then there's sing-along and good-byes, Mr. Logan said that."

Clint walked all the way over to the gym's outside wall, where he leaned against the concrete surface. "I don't want to do sing-along," he said, feeling hot and angry in all his insides. "I want to go home."

"You can't," Natasha said, and she sat down on the pavement. Clint sat down next to her. "You can't go home until Daddy and Steve come get us. You'll get in trouble."

"I don't care," Clint said, still feeling hot and angry. "I wanna go home."

"Why?" Natasha asked. "I thought you wanted to go to school with me."

Clint shrugged, looking at a tiny crack in the pavement. "I do want to go to school with you, you're my best friend," he said. "But school's too long. My head hurts right behind my eyes and up my nose and in my ears."

"That's sad," Natasha said. "I wouldn't want to play dinosaurs either if my head hurt up my nose."

"Hi." Saanvi had shuffled up to them and sat down on the ground. She pulled her horse out of her shirt.

"Saanvi, does your head hurt?" Natasha asked.

Saanvi shook her head. She walked her horse over the pavement.

"Then why'd you wear headphones during free play?"

Saanvi walked the horse back. "Too loud," she said.

Clint wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, they was too loud," he agreed. "Like when Charlotte started screaming and Leah started screaming too."

The sound had gone into Clint's hearing aid and into his ear and into his brain and it was really loud and it made him feel bad. Saanvi was so lucky to have big headphones that played music during free play.

"It was okay," Natasha objected.

"It was too loud," Saanvi said again. She walked her horse up her free arm.

"You missed the story because you had headphones on," Natasha pointed out.

Clint did have to nod at this. "It was a good story," he said. "But I can tell a better story."

Saanvi carefully set her horse on the ground, so the little horse was facing Clint. "Okay."

"Yeah, Clint, tell a story," Natasha said. She went up on her knees expectantly. "Tell a good story."

"Tell a story about a horse," Saanvi said.

"Okay." Clint thought for a minute. "What's the horse's name?"

"Princess Sparkle," Natasha said immediately.

Clint hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell a story about a horse named Princess Sparkle.

"Ruffian," said Saanvi after a moment. "Ruffian was a racehorse who ran races. She was a bay horse. That means brown. She ran real fast."

Natasha and Clint looked at each other. "How about Princess Ruffian?" Clint suggested.

Natasha made a face. "Okay," she said. "She can be a princess and a fast horse."

"So, Princess Ruffian the horse!" Clint said. He pictured a horse in his mind, a big horse like one of Uncle Thor's horses, that ran in circles around the big yard in the video his dad had shown him. And Uncle Thor had said that sometimes he took his horses out for a drive in a big truck.

So, Clint reasoned, if a horse could go in a truck, then a horse could go anywhere. Maybe even a train!

"One day," Clint began his story, "Princess Ruffian the horse wanted to go far away. So she jumped over her fence and said goodbye to her friends and walked until she got on a train."

"Where is she going?" Saanvi asked.

"She is going to run in a race," Clint said. "She is going to the Olympics."

"She's gonna get lonely," Natasha said. "She should have a friend."

"Okay." Clint looked around the playground. In the far distance over by where Ricky was dangling upside-down from the monkey bars, stood Miss Doreen. That made Clint think. "When the train stopped, Princess Ruffian looked out the window and on a tree was a squirrel. 'Hello!' said Princess Ruffian. 'Will you be my friend?' "

"What did the squirrel say?" Saanvi asked, moving her horse closer to Clint.

"The squirrel said 'Yes, I'll be your friend! Do you like ice cream?' And Princess Ruffian said yes! So the squirrel went to get ice cream and they had ice cream together, and when the train started to go again, the squirrel and Princess Ruffian were together!"

"The squirrel should have a name," Saanvi said. "If a horse has a name, a squirrel should have a name."

"Okay. The squirrel's name is Tippy Toe."

"No, it can't be," Natasha argued. "That's Miss Doreen's squirrel, he can't be in this story."

Clint turned to Natasha. "Then what's his name?" he demanded, feeling a little itchy in his head. This was his story, so why did everyone else keep making things up for him?

Natasha rubbed her nose. "Cheddar Cheese," she decided. "Princess Ruffian the horse, and Cheddar Cheese the squirrel."

"Okay." Clint thought about Princess Ruffian and Cheddar Cheese. "They are on the train, and the train went up the mountain!" He demonstrated with his hand. "All the way up! Then the train came all the way down!" Clint slapped his hand down onto his knee. "And then they were at the race place! And Princess Ruffian ran real fast and won all the gold medals and then she and Cheddar Cheese went to the circus and ate cotton candy and met an elephant, the end."

"I like that story," said Saanvi. She picked up her toy horse and made it dance in the air.

"Yeah, me too," said Clint, sitting back on the ground.

"Race horses have pretty colors," Saanvi said. "When they run. They have pretty colors on their saddles. What color is Princess Ruffian's saddle?"

Clint wondered about that. Then he had an idea! He pulled his purple bandana out of his pocket and waved it around. "Purple!"

Saanvi leaned forward to look. "That is a good color," she said. "Princess Ruffian would like that."

"What's that?"

All three of them turned around. Standing just a few feet away were a bunch of big kids, three of them. Clint balled his hand up around his bandana. He didn't like the look of those big kids.

"What's that?" the kid in the front said. He had short hair and a crooked front tooth and Clint wanted him to go away.

"Nothing," Clint said.

"Come on, Adam, let's go," said the girl.

"They're just babies," said the other boy.

Natasha bounced to her feet. "We are not babies!" she exclaimed. But she was really short, and the big kids were really tall.

"Are too!" said the other boy, and he took a step closer to Natasha.

Clint was standing up without even thinking about it. "Leave her alone!"

"Ooh," said the boy Adam. "Is she your girlfriend? What about your other girlfriend here?"

Clint looked over his shoulder. Saanvi was standing behind them, holding her horse very tight to her chest. Clint looked back at the big kids. "They're my friends." He took a deep breath. "And you're not!"

The other boy laughed at him, but Adam narrowed his eyes at Clint. "You think you're so smart, huh?"

In a sudden movement, Adam reached out and grabbed Clint's purple bandana out of his fist. The other boy stopped laughing.

"Give it back!" Clint yelled. The sound was lost under the noise from all the other kids on the playground.

"You want it back?" Adam asked, moving back towards the chain-link fence separating the gym from the school buildings. Clint followed, desperate and sick. He needed his bandana back!

"Knock it off!" said the other boy to Adam. "We're going to get in trouble."

"Yeah you are!" Natasha said, following Clint. "You're going to go to jail!"

"Shows what you know," Adam said. He put his elbow in Clint's face when Clint reached for his bandana. "You want this so bad? Go get it." He pulled something out of his pocket, wrapped the bandana around it, and threw it.

"No!" Clint ran, crashing into the fence as he watched his bandana fly away. It landed on top of what looked like a climbing wall, one end of the cloth fluttering in the wind. "My bandana!"

"What is wrong with you?" the big girl said to Adam, her hands clenched just Natasha's were.

"He's just a little nerd with glasses and a hearing aid, no one's going to listen to him," said Adam, backing away. "You two losers can stay here with the babies, I'm going inside." Adam walked away.

The other boy looked at Clint. "Sorry, kid," and then he walked after Adam. The girl just glared, then without another look at Clint or Natasha or Saanvi, she walked in the other direction.

Clint didn't really care now that they were gone. His bandana was still on top of the wall, and he had no way of getting to it!

This was the worst thing _ever_.

"We should go get a teacher," said Natasha, coming over to the fence. "Maybe they have a stick."

"No, it's too high," Clint said sadly. He edged along the fence to the gate, only the gate was locked with a big chain.

But wait.

Maybe if Clint could push the gate open, he could get inside and go get his bandana!

Clint pushed on the gate. It didn't move. He pushed again, harder.

"You need to move that," Saanvi said. She was pointing to a metal hook that was holding the gate against the post.

"Lift it up!" Natasha urged.

So Clint reached up. It took him two tries, but he finally pulled the hook up. The gate swung just a tiny bit before it was stopped by the chain.

"You can do it!" Natasha said.

Clint pushed at the gate again, seeing how far it could go against the chain. The little gap wasn't big at all, and Clint wasn't sure if he could fit through. But he had to! He had to go get his bandana!

"Are you going to climb the wall?" Saanvi asked.

"Yes," Clint said defiantly. He took off his jacket and handed it to Saanvi. Then he kicked off his shoes and took off his socks. "I am going to get my bandana back!"

"Horses cannot climb walls," Saanvi said as Natasha picked up Clint's shoes. "But goats can."

Clint did not have time for goats. Recess would end soon, and if he didn't get his bandana back now, he _never_ would!

Taking a deep breath, Clint pushed on the gate again, and squeezed himself through the opening. It was a too-tight fit, and he scraped his side real bad, but he didn't make any sound. He was a big boy, not a baby, and he was going to get his bandana back!

Clint looked at the girls on the other side of the fence. "I have to go do it," he said.

"That's a big wall," Natasha said uncertainly. "Maybe we should go get a teacher. Or wait until Daddy gets here. He can get your bandana."

Clint shook his head. "I have to do it. It's my birthday bandana! You gave me that bandana!"

"Okay," Natasha said solemnly. "I will hold your shoes."

"I will hold your jacket," Saanvi said. "Sometimes horses wear jackets too."

"Okay." Clint turned towards the climbing wall. As he walked across the warm pavement in his bare feet, he looked up and up and up the wall. It was real tall, and it went all the way up. Clint stopped at the bottom of the wall to consider. He'd never climbed a wall like this before, but he had climbed up and down other things. He could do it.

Clint put his hands into fists. He _could_ do it! He would do it! He was going to get his bandana back!

Tentatively, Clint reached out one of his hands to the wall. Uncle Tony had told him what a climbing wall was, and had shown him the climbing wall in the big building downtown. So Clint knew that the brightly colored pieces of plastic were called climbing holds, and that they might look squishy but they were hard, and you had to use them to climb up the wall.

So Clint took a deep breath, and put his foot on a green climbing hold just a few inches above the ground. Then he reached up to a bright pink hold up the wall, and pulled himself up.

He was climbing!

It was really hard work, climbing up that wall. Sometimes, Clint couldn't find a place to put his hands or his feet, and his toes were getting tired. But he could still see the purple fluttering edge of his bandana, at the edge of the wall, so he kept going.

Below him, the loud sounds of recess were fading as he got higher. Clint hoped that he could get up and get his bandana before recess ended. He didn't want to get into trouble. He didn't want Mr. Logan to think he was _disruptive_.

He was almost there. Clint reached for a grey hold, and had just wrapped his hand around it when his foot slipped, and he nearly fell!

Instead, Clint held onto the grey hold with his right hand and the blue one with his left hand so tight! His toes scrambled against the wall, until one foot found a hold. Clint shoved his toes into the hold and put his weight on it and breathed for a moment.

That was scary! He had almost fallen!  He remembered falling at the playground, and how he had broken his glasses and hit his head. He didn't want to fall again!

"I can do it!" Clint said to himself. He reached for the next hold, then another, and then he was crawling onto the top of the wall. He sat and looked out all around him. In front of him, the gym wall was tall, but if he looked over to the left, he could see out into the street and all the people outside the school yard.

He had done it. He had climbed that wall!

Looking down, Clint saw the girls at the fence. Natasha waved up at him, and Clint waved back! Then Saanvi held her horse up to him, and he waved at the horse.

His purple bandana was only a few feet away. Carefully, Clint shifted his bum over the top of the wall until he could reach his bandana. The fabric was soft under his fingers. Curiously, and still mad at the mean guy Adam, Clint unwrapped the bandana. Inside, he found a little ball that was squishy when he squeezed it.

Clint put his bandana into his shirt and let the little ball drop over the edge of the wall. He didn't want that; it belonged to a mean guy.

Then Clint caught movement down on the ground. His breath stopped. It was Miss Doreen! She was walking up to the girls!

Clint didn't move. Maybe she wouldn't see him and he wouldn't get in trouble.

Up so high, Clint couldn't hear what they were saying, so he had to watch. Miss Doreen bent over to talk to Natasha and Saanvi, then tried to lead them away from the fence. Natasha stayed put, shaking her head, and Saanvi kept her fingers wrapped up in the fence. Miss Doreen stood back, hands on her hips.

Then Saanvi pointed up at Clint.

Miss Doreen looked at Saanvi's hand, then she looked up and up and up. When she saw Clint on top of the wall, she jumped back, and her hands went up over her mouth.

Clint slumped down. He was in trouble now. Reluctantly, he waved to Miss Doreen.

"Stay right there!" Miss Doreen yelled at him. "Don't move! We'll get you down!"

"I can get down!" Clint yelled back. He might as well climb down now. He'd learned at his old school that if a teacher had to wait to get him into trouble, it was worse trouble than ever. "I'll come down!"

"Clint, no, stay!" Miss Doreen shouted.

"I can do it!" Clint called, bumping his bum back to where he'd climbed up the first time. He made sure his bandana was safe in his shirt, then he put his foot on the first hold to climb down.

Climbing down was a lot easier than climbing up, because Clint remembered where he had to put his feet and his hands. In spite of being in trouble, Clint was happy, because he had his bandana back, and Natasha was his best friend, and now he had a new friend at school, Saanvi.

Below him, there was a lot of noise, like all of recess had started up again. Clint had to concentrate on where to put his feet, so he didn't look.

Then he heard Mr. Logan's voice. "Clint!"

Clint froze.

In a moment, when he unfroze, Clint held the wall real tight and looked down. There, just by his feet, stood Mr. Logan. And he looked angry.

Clint wondered if he should climb back up the wall again.

"Clint, are you okay?" Mr. Logan demanded. Clint nodded. "Okay, you're almost down. Can you climb down a bit more?" Clint nodded again. "When you're down here, I'm going to help you down. Come on, I've got you."

Carefully, Clint let himself down a few more feet. When he was almost down, Mr. Logan put his hands under Clint's arms and said, "Okay, down in three. One, two…"

On _three_ , Clint let go of the wall and let Mr. Logan swing him down and away to the ground.

A giant shout erupted. Clint looked over at the gate, where the whole class was watching from behind Miss Doreen. Everyone was cheering, and Natasha was jumping up and down, yelling. Saanvi had put her hands over her ears again.

"Come on," said Mr. Logan. He put his hand on Clint's shoulder, real gentle. "Let's get back inside and you can tell me all about it."

"A bad boy stole my bandana," Clint said immediately. Mr. Logan had to know that Clint wasn't troublesome. "He threw it onto the roof."

"Inside," Mr. Logan said again.

Clint sighed and slumped down, slouching as he walked across the pavement. Someone had unlocked the gate, so Clint and Mr. Logan walked back into the playground yard with the other kids cheering all around them.

"Shoes, please," said Mr. Logan, so Clint went over to Natasha. She stopped jumping and handed him his shoes.

"You climbed so good!" she exclaimed. "I could never climb like that."

"You could do it if you practiced," Clint said as he sat down to pull on his socks. "You gotta practice to be excellent."

"Maybe," Natasha said. "Maybe when I'm six I'll climb the wall!"

"No one is climbing the wall," said Miss Doreen, taking Clint's jacket from Saanvi. "No one's allowed to climb the wall until they're in third grade with a signed note from their parents and a fully rigged safety harness."

"Why not?" Natasha challenged, glaring up at Miss Doreen.

"Because it's not safe," replied Miss Doreen. "Come on, everyone, inside, recess is over."

Clint stood up, shoes on but laces untied. He didn't want to tie his laces! He didn't want to be treated like some baby! He'd climbed the wall all on his own, and he didn't want to be in trouble!

At Clint's side, Ricky held out his hand. "That was _cool_ ," Ricky said.

Clint looked at Ricky's hand, then slapped it in a low-high-five. Ricky beamed.

"How'd you get so good at climbing?" Clara demanded.

"How come you didn't fall?" asked Taylan.

Clint shrugged. "I just was always good, I guess," he said. The class was moving through the big outside doors into the school hallways. "And I guess I just practiced."

"I want to climb the wall one day," said Matias.

"Me too!" chipped in Charlotte-or-Leah.

"Not me," said Leah-or-Charlotte, shaking her head.

"Climbing stuff is _cool_ ," added Eli.

Clint liked that. If climbing stuff was cool, then maybe he was cool. And he had his purple bandana, so he was extra cool!

"Into the classroom, everyone," said Miss Doreen from behind them. They all went inside. "Back to your desks."

Clint tried to walk over to his desk, but Mr. Logan's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Clint, go over to my desk," Mr. Logan said.

Clint scowled. He didn't see why he had to be in trouble when it was that boy Adam who had done mean stuff!

"Go," said Mr. Logan, giving Clint a tiny nudge. "Saanvi, Natasha, you too."

With a loud groan, Natasha walked over to Mr. Logan's desk. Saanvi clutched her horse to her chest in a big hug as she followed Natasha.

At the desk, Clint planted his feet on the ground, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at Mr. Logan. If Mr. Logan was going to be mean like Mrs. Anders, Clint was going home!

"All right." Mr. Logan sat down in his chair, put his elbows on his knees, and looked at Clint and Natasha and Saanvi. "What happened?"

"There was a mean boy!" Natasha announced. "He said mean things and he took Clint's bandana and he threw it up on the roof!"

"Do you know why he did that?" Mr. Logan asked.

"He was mean!" Natasha said again.

Saanvi clutched her horse tighter. "He said that Clint was a nerd with glasses and a hearing aid and no one would listen to him," she said in a soft voice. "He had glasses and a jacket and he is called Adam."

Something on Mr. Logan's face changed. He let out a long sigh, then rubbed his hand over his face. "Adam," he said. "Great. Was he with anyone?"

"Yes!" Natasha poked her finger into the air. "There was another boy and a girl!"

"All right," Mr. Logan said. "Saanvi and Natasha, back to your desks, Miss Doreen is going to get you set up for free play. Clint, you stay here," he added when Clint tried to follow the girls.

Clint went back to stand his ground, arms crossed, feeling angry. It wasn't fair that he had to stay!

"All right," said Mr. Logan again. "Clint, the climbing wall was behind a locked gate for a reason. You should have called me or Miss Doreen to help get your bandana back."

Clint shook his head.

"Why not?"

Clint looked down. "Because you'd take my bandana away and throw it in the garbage," he whispered. "It's my birthday bandana. Natasha got it for me. She's my best friend."

"Why do you think I'd throw your bandana away?" Mr. Logan asked.

Clint shrugged.

"Is that something that your dad would do?"

Clint looked up, astonished. He shook his head really hard. His daddy would _never_ do that!

"What about Skye, your tutor last year?"

Clint shook his head so hard his glasses almost fell off. "Skye's the best!" Clint burst out. "She'd never do that!"

"What about your teachers last year?" Mr. Logan went on. Clint looked down, his tummy feeling really bad all of a sudden. "What happened?"

Clint took a deep breath. "I had a 'raser," he whispered. "Uncle Tony gave it to me. It was a banana."

"Did someone throw it in the garbage?"

Clint nodded. "Mrs. Anders said I was dis-ruptive and threw it away."

He still felt real bad thinking about that. Uncle Tony had given Clint a present, and Mrs. Anders threw it away, and told him not to talk about it any more. When Clint had tried to go into the garbage pail to get it back, she put him at the back of the class and yelled at him in front of everyone.

"Clint."

Clint looked up.

"No one here is going to throw anything of yours away, okay? If there's something that we need to put in my desk for the day, then it goes home with you at the end of the day."

Clint bit his finger. "Even if I'm bad?"

"Even if you're having some challenges in the day, yes," said Mr. Logan. "You're not bad, Clint. Kids aren't bad. Sometimes they do things that are unhelpful, or mean, but they're not bad."

"Oh." Clint gnawed on his finger some more.

"I need you to promise me something," Mr. Logan went on.

Clint took his finger out of his mouth. "What?" he asked.

"I need you to promise that you won't go back to the climbing wall without a teacher with you." Mr. Logan's face was a serious face.

"But I can climb!"

"Yes, I know, but there are others who can't, and if they see you doing it, they might try and they might get hurt." Mr. Logan leaned forward a bit more. "Do you understand?"

Clint nodded. Sometimes, he'd seen people do things, and then he'd tried to do those things.

"Can you say it?" Mr. Logan asked.

"I won't go to the climbing wall without a teacher," Clint said. "Can I sit down now?"

Mr. Logan sat back. "Sure, go on."

Clint turned and ran back to his desk. Everyone was already coloring, and he wanted to color too!

Natasha pounced on him as she sat down. "Are you in trouble?" she demanded breathlessly.

"I don't think so," Clint said as he reached for a piece of paper.

"That was really neat," Ricky said, scribbling madly on his own paper. "I'd never seen anyone climb up so high before!"

"Yeah." Clint moved his paper into the middle of his desk. "It was fun." But then he remembered what Mr. Logan said. "Only next time I gotta take a teacher with me."

"That's okay," said Natasha. "Miss Doreen is a teacher, you can take her."

Pretty sure that Miss Doreen wouldn't ever let him climb a wall, Clint looked over at Saanvi. She was wearing her cool headphones again, her horse tucked into her shirt as she drew. She turned her paper towards him.

The paper had a picture of a boy climbing a wall, and there was a purple scarf around his neck! On the ground, there was a girl with dark hair and a girl with red hair and a really big horse. Clint grinned. "I like your picture," he said, and gave a thumbs up to her.

"Keep drawing, everyone," called Miss Doreen to the class. "This is what we call art therapy and we use it to decompress at the end of a real busy day."

"What's 'decompress' mean?" asked Madison.

"It's when you take all the stuff that's been making you tense or worried, and you let it all out." Miss Doreen pretended to curl up in a ball, then straightened her back and opened her arms with a big _Ahhhhh_. "The noise is optional, but it can help."

Ricky threw his head back and went, " _Ahhhhhh_." Natasha giggled.

Clint considered his paper. He'd had a really long day at this new school. Some things had been good, like making a new friend, and having fun. Some things had been bad, like that mean kid Adam and getting in trouble.

But Mr. Logan had said that he would never throw Clint's stuff away. And no one had yelled at him and said he was disruptive or bad or dumb.

Clint picked up a purple crayon. He could feel his purple bandana inside his shirt, nice and safe, just like Saanvi and her horse. And now he was going to draw a picture with a purple crayon, sitting beside his best friend and his new friend, and Ricky too who was neat and who thought Clint was _cool_.

Maybe, Clint thought, first grade was going to be okay after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! 
> 
> (Also I'm on [tumblr](http://mhalachai.tumblr.com) if you want to chat)


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